Master slide for drapery

ABSTRACT

A master slide for supporting drapery on a slotted rod which includes an upright slide body having a depending skirt. A bracket having a base portion and supporting arm is seated on the front of the skirt. The mounting surface on the bracket and the face of the depending skirt are formed in a series of mating scallops permitting register of the bracket in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions and with the bracket pointing either to right or left. The mounting surface of the bracket is &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;rockered&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; in a horizontal plane with respect to the face of the skirt so as to permit the arm on the bracket to be adjusted in angle inwardly and outwardly with respect to the slide body to change the degree of overlap clearance between adjacent leading edges of the drapery, and with a screw clamping the parts in their adjusted relation. The arm is channeled out symmetrically on both sides so that it is of &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;H&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; cross section having spaced parallel uprights which support between them a horizontal web having holes therein for supporting the rear leg of a drapery hook in both directions of extension of the arm.

United States Patent [191 Znamirowski et al.

[ MASTER SLIDE FOR DRAPERY [75] Inventors: Henry Znamirowski, Ellicott City;

William Vanburen Fielder, Jr., Westminster, both of Md.

[73] Assignee: Roper Corporation, Kankakee, Ill. [22] Filed: July 19, 1974 21] Appl. No.: 489,998

[52] U.S. Cl. 16/93 D; 160/345 [51] Int. Cl. A47h 1/04;E05d 13/02; EOSd 15/06 [58] Field of Search l6/87.4 R, 93 D, 94 D,

16/95 D, 96 D; l60/345347, 84, 341; 248/261-265; 24/73 SA, 73 RM, 265 CT [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,273,197 9/1966 Ford 16/94 D 3,427,679 2/1969 Znamirowski 16/93 D Primary Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wolfe, Hubbard, Leydig, Voit & Osann, Ltd.

[451' July 22, 1975 [57] ABSTRACT A master slide for supporting drapery on a slotted rod which includes an upright slide body having a depending skirt. A bracket having a base portion and supporting arm is seated on the front of the skirt. The mounting surface on the bracket and the face of the depending skirt are formed in a series of mating scallops permitting register of the bracket in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions and with the bracket pointing either to right or left. The mounting surface of the bracket is rockered" in a horizontal plane with respect to the face of the skirt so as to permit the arm on the bracket to be adjusted in angle inwardly and outwardly with respect to the slide body to change the degree of overlap clearance between adjacent leading edges of the drapery, and with a screw clamping the parts in their adjusted relation. The arm is channeled out symmetrically on both sides so that it is of H cross section having spaced parallel uprights which support between them a horizontal web having holes therein for supporting the rear leg of a drapery hook in both directions of extension of the arm.

8 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures It is an object of the present invention to provide a master slide for supporting the leading edge of a section of drapery in which the drapery-supporting arm thereon may be secured to the slide body in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions and with the arm bearing a selected angle with respect to the slide body thereby to adjust the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket, and the drapery which is supported thereon, as well as to vary the overlap clearance between adjacent leading edges of the drapery.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a master slide having a slide body and a bracket in which the bracket, in addition to adjustment of register and angling, may be reversed end for end with respect to the slide body. This permits the master slide to be used in the conventional way as a right-hand slide cooperating with a left-hand slide or to be used as a lefthand slide for abutting relation with a right-hand wall.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a master slide for supporting drapery which is formed of two pieces molded in plastic and secured together by a single clamping screw to provide a highly versatile assembly enabling horizontal adjustment of the leading edge of the drapery to control amount of overlap, enabling adjustment of overlap clearance, and permitting both right-hand and left-hand modes of use, all in a structure which can be economically manufactured and easily and permanently adjusted by the drapery installer for carefree operation over long periods of time.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the attached detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a master slide construction in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the master slide of FIG. 1 but with the slides separated from one another.

FIG. 3 is a left-hand end view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a right-hand end view of FIG. 2 with the rod shown in cross section.

FIG. 5 is a back view looking along line 5-5 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a plan view in partial section looking along the line 6-6 in FIG. 4 but with the parts separated from one another.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the parts assembled and the range of horizontal and angular adjustment permitted by the present invention.

FIG. 8 is another view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the arm of the bracket in its reversed position.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary cross section looking along the line 99 in FIG. 6.

Turning now to the drawings there is shown, in FIGS. 1 and 2, a master slide assembly including a right-hand master slide 11 and a left-hand master slide 12. It will be understood that the master slides are intended to cooperate with one another carrying, cantilever fashion, the leading edges of a set of draperies with the leading edges being closable in overlapping condition. The right and left-hand slides are supported upon a slotted rod 13 which is shown in cross section in FIG. 4, with the horizontal slot at the rear of the rod being indicated at 14. i

Turning attention to the right-hand master slide 11, it includes a slide body having runners 15,15a along its upper edge which cooperate with lands on each side of the slot 14 so as to support the body in upright position. Along the lower edge of the slide body is a depending, horizontally extending skirt 16 which hangs below rod level and which has a face 17.

Mounted upon the skirt l6 and extending forwardly below rod level is a bracket 20 having a base portion 21 and a horizontally extending arm 22 which supports the right-hand leading edge of the drapery cantilever fashion. The base portion of the bracket has a mounting surface 23, as in FIG. 6. In accordance with the present invention the mounting surface on the bracket and the face of the depending skirt are formed as a series of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register of the bracket in a selected one ofa plurality of horizontal positions thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket, and drapery thereon, with respect to the slide body which, in turn, controls the degree of overlap at the leading edges of the drapery. Specifically, the face 17 of the slide body isformed with concave scallops 31, 32, 33. The bracket has registering convex scallops 34, 35, the scallop 34 being conveniently referred to as the main scallop on the bracket.

To provide additional support and alinement between the slide body and the bracket, with the bracket facing either to the left or to the right, the skirt on the slide body has a horizontal groove 40 therein (FIG. 4) defined by an upper wall 41 and a lower wall 42. The groove 40 is of constant width. and the thickness dimension of the bracket is such as to snugly fit into the groove to resist the twisting force upon the bracket resulting from the cantilevered support of the drapery.

For the purpose of clamping the parts together regardless of the direction of the bracket and in any selected horizontal position, a clamping screw 45 is provided which engages a tapped hole 46 formed in the main scallop 34 of the bracket, the screw having a set of clearance openings in the form of horizontal slots 47, 48, 49 formed in the concave scallops 31, 32, 33, respectively.

It will be apparent, then, that the bracket has three positions of horizontal adjustment upon the slide body, that is, the scallop 34 can be selectively mated with the scallops 31, 32 or 33 on the body.

In accordance with one of the features of the present invention the concave and convex scallops are relatively rockered with respect to one another so that, in addition to the horizontal positioning, the bracket may be rocked angularly for inward and outward swing of the arm 22 thereby to adjust the degree of overlap clearance of the right-hand edge of the drapery with respect to the left-hand edge. In the present construction the concave scallops are located along a straight locus 51 shown in FIG. 6 while the locus of the scallops on the bracket is curved or rockered as indicated at 52. Thus regardless of the registered position of the bracket upon the slide body, the bracket may nevertheless be rocked through a limited angle inwardly and outwardly as indicated by the various dot-dash positions shown in FIG. 7. It will be understood that while it is convenient to make the bracket the rockered element, the relationship could be reversed, that is, the locus of the scallops on the bracket could be straight while the locus of the scallops on the slide body could be convexly curved. In either event, the curvature (for example of the locus 52) is quite limited so as to intentionally limit the degree of rocking movement so that in all of the angular positions of the bracket the bracket is still fully registered with the slot 40 which receives it and thus fully supported horizontally, from end to the other, to resist the vertical twisting force imposed by the weight of the drapery.

While, in the present construction, the slide body and base portion of the bracket both are provided with plural scallops, it will be understood that it is not necessary to haveplural scallops on both of these elements and that selective positioning can be achieved by, say, providing a series of concave scallops on theslide body and only a single convex scallop, for example that indicated at 34, on the bracket.

in accordance with one of the aspects of the invention the bracket is channeled out symmetrically on both sides so that it is of H cross section having spaced paralleluprights which support between them a horizontal web having holes spaced therealong for supporting the rear leg of a drapery hook in upright position in both directions of extension of the arm. Thus referring to FIG. 9, the arm 22 has a channel 61 on the top and a symmetrically formed channel 62 on the bottom defined by uprights 63, 64. The uprights support a central web 65 having a series of holes 66. The holes serve to receive the rear leg 71 of a drapery hook 70. With the arm on the bracket oriented to the left as shown in FIG. 6the H-shaped cross section will be seen to apply to the I hook a force couple consisting of an upper horizontal force F1 and a lower horizontal force F2 exerted by the I the upper edge of the upright member 63 and the lower edge of the upright member 64. This insures that the hook 70 is supported in the upright position shown regardless of the amount of weight exerted by the drapery. When the bracket is switched around to face in the opposite direction illustrated in FIG. 8, the same support in upright position is assured but the functions of the uprights 63, 64 in the arm cross section are reversed. ln addition to holding the hook 70 upright in both the right and left-hand modes, the H cross section has the further advantage of high inherent strength because of its l beam" construction.

It is preferred to mold the two parts of the master slide of plastic, with the runners and depending skirt of the slide body being molded integrally and with the base portion and arm of the bracket also being integral with one another. The type of plastic is, of course, a matter of designers choice depending upon the anticipated weight of the drapery and the type of service for which the master slide is intended. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that even with the master slide formed of-an inexpensive type of plastic and in relatively light section the tongue and groove connection between the two pieces and the channeled cross section forms a structure which is inherently strong. The clamping screw 45 is stressed primarily by the clamping forces and holds the parts intimately together without, however, having to bear the full weight of the drapery which is, instead, primarily borne by th interfitting surfaces of body and bracket.

While the above discussion has been primarily concentrated upon the right-hand master slide 11, the lefthand master slide 12 with which it cooperates is of relatively simple construction, and corresponding parts have been indicated, where applicable, with corre- -22a of the bracket is of the same inherently strong H cross section and that similar means are provided for maintaining the, left-hand slide in its upright position with respect to the supporting rod.

While the invention has been shown and described in connection with rocking action between a pair of members having smoothly continuous convex and concave mated surfaces, and while this constitutes the preferred embodiment, it will be understood that both surfaces need not be smoothly continuous. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that one of such surfaces may be discontinuous as long as the desired rocking action is achieved and that the term mating scallops includes this possibility. Moreover, at least one of the mating surfaces, instead of being perfectly smooth, may be formed with shallow teeth to provide small steps of angular adjustment without departing from the present invention.

What we claim is:

1. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of a section of drapery, the mounting surface on the bracket and the face of the depending skirt being formed in a plurality of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket, and the drapery thereon, with respect to the slide body, the mounting surface of the bracket being relatively rockered in a horizontal plane with respect to the face of the skirt so as to permit inward and outward angular adjustment of the arm when the bracket is in the selected position on the slide body, and screw means for clamping the bracket onto the face of the skirt in the selected position and angle.

2. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, the skirt having a horizontal groove extending the length thereof, the root of the groove being formed into a plurality of concave scallops, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface in the form of a convex scallop and dimensioned to fit in the groove in register with a selected one of the concave scallops in the groove thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and the drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, and means including a screw for clamping the bracket in position on the slide body, the screw having clearance openings in the form of horizontal slots in the concave scallops so as to permit inward and outward angular ad- I justment of the arm when the bracket is in a selected ners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, the skirt having a horizontal groove extending the length thereof, the root of the groove being formed with a series of scallops to define selectable mounting positions, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface in the form of a mating scallop and dimensioned to fit in the groove in register with a selected one of the scallops in the groove thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and the drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, and means including a screw for clamping the bracket in any selected position and angle on the slide body.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 3 in which a mounting screw is threaded into the central portion of the scallop on the base of the bracket and in which each scallop on the skirt is formed with a horizontal clearance slot for selective reception of the screw and for accommodation of adjustment of the angle of the bracket with respect to the slide body.

5. The combination as claimed in claim 3 in which the horizontal groove in the skirt and the vertical thick ness of the base portion of the bracket are matching and constant thereby to permit reversibility of the bracket so that the arm thereon extends either to the right or to the left when secured by the screw.

6. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of a section of drapery, the mounting surface on the bracket and the face of the depending skirt being formed in a plurality of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions with the arm on the bracket extending either to right or left while permitting rocking adjustment of the bracket in a horizontal plane for setting the angle of the arm with the bracket in register with a selected scallop on the slide body, and screw means including a plurality of slotted clearance openings for clamping the bracket tightly to the slide body in the selected direction, position and angle.

7. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of the drapery, the mounting surfaces on the bracket and face of the depending skirt being formed into a series of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register of the bracket in the slide body in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions and with the arm on the bracket extending horizontally in either direction thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, means including a clamping screw for clamping together the mating scallops on the bracket and slide body, the arm being channeled out symmetrically on both sides so that it is of H cross section having spaced parallel uprights which support between them a horizontal web having holes spaced therealong for supporting the rear leg of a drapery hook in both directions of extension of the arm.

8. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and a supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of the drapery, the runners and skirt being formed of plastic integrally with one another, the skirt having a horizontal forwardly facing groove of constant width and the base portion of the bracket being dimensioned to register with the groove with the arm in the bracket pointing to right or left, the mounting surface on the bracket and the root of the groove being formed in a horizontal series of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register of the bracket in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions in the groove thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, the mounting surface of the bracket being relatively rockered in a horizontal plane with respect to the face of the skirt so as to permit inward and outward angular adjustment of the arm when the bracket is in a selected position on the slide body, the mounting surface on the bracket being tapped for a clamping screw in a central position, the skirt having a plurality of horizontal extending screw clearance slots centered with respect to the scallops thereon for selective reception of the clamping screw for clamping the bracket onto the face of the skirt in a selected direction, position and angle, the base portion and supporting arm being formed integrally of plastic and symmetrically relieved on both sides so that the arm is of H cross section having spaced parallel uprights which support between them a horizontal web having holes spaced therealong for supporting the rear leg of a drapery hook in both directions of extension of the arm.

* l l l 

1. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of a section of drapery, the mounting surface on the bracket and the face of the depending skirt being formed in a plurality of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket, and the drapery thereon, with respect to the slide body, the mounting surface of the bracket being relatively rockered in a horizontal plane with respect to the face of the skirt so as to permit inward and outward angular adjustment of the arm when the bracket is in the selected position on the slide body, and screw means for clamping the bracket onto the face of the skirt in the selected position and angle.
 2. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, the skirt having a horizontal groove extending the length thereof, the root of the groove being formed into a plurality of concave scallops, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface in the form of a convex scallop and dimensioned to fit in the groove in register with a selected one of the concave scallops in the groove thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and the drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, and means including a screw for clamping the bracket in position on the slide body, the screw having clearance openings in the form of horizontal slots in the concave scallops so as to permit inward and outward angular adjustment of the arm when the bracket is in a selected position thereby to adjust the overlap clearance between adjacent leading edges of the drapery.
 3. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, the skirt having a horizontal groove extending the length thereof, the root of the groove being formed with a series of scallops to define selectable mounting positions, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supportiNg arm, the base portion having a mounting surface in the form of a mating scallop and dimensioned to fit in the groove in register with a selected one of the scallops in the groove thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and the drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, and means including a screw for clamping the bracket in any selected position and angle on the slide body.
 4. The combination as claimed in claim 3 in which a mounting screw is threaded into the central portion of the scallop on the base of the bracket and in which each scallop on the skirt is formed with a horizontal clearance slot for selective reception of the screw and for accommodation of adjustment of the angle of the bracket with respect to the slide body.
 5. The combination as claimed in claim 3 in which the horizontal groove in the skirt and the vertical thickness of the base portion of the bracket are matching and constant thereby to permit reversibility of the bracket so that the arm thereon extends either to the right or to the left when secured by the screw.
 6. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of a section of drapery, the mounting surface on the bracket and the face of the depending skirt being formed in a plurality of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions with the arm on the bracket extending either to right or left while permitting rocking adjustment of the bracket in a horizontal plane for setting the angle of the arm with the bracket in register with a selected scallop on the slide body, and screw means including a plurality of slotted clearance openings for clamping the bracket tightly to the slide body in the selected direction, position and angle.
 7. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and an integral supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of the drapery, the mounting surfaces on the bracket and face of the depending skirt being formed into a series of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register of the bracket in the slide body in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions and with the arm on the bracket extending horizontally in either direction thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, means including a clamping screw for clamping together the mating scallops on the bracket and slide body, the arm being channeled out symmetrically on both sides so that it is of H cross section having spaced parallel uprights which support between them a horizontal web having holes spaced therealong for supporting the rear leg of a drapery hook in both directions of extension of the arm.
 8. In a master slide for use on a slotted drapery rod, the combination comprising a slide body having runners along its upper edge for registering with the slot in the rod and having a depending skirt hanging below rod level, the runners being formed to maintain the skirt in upright position, a bracket having a base portion and a supporting arm, the base portion having a mounting surface seating on the front of the skirt for cantilevered support of the leading edge of the drapery, the runners And skirt being formed of plastic integrally with one another, the skirt having a horizontal forwardly facing groove of constant width and the base portion of the bracket being dimensioned to register with the groove with the arm in the bracket pointing to right or left, the mounting surface on the bracket and the root of the groove being formed in a horizontal series of mating scallops dimensioned to permit register of the bracket in a selected one of a plurality of horizontal positions in the groove thereby to control the degree of horizontal extension of the bracket and drapery thereon with respect to the slide body, the mounting surface of the bracket being relatively rockered in a horizontal plane with respect to the face of the skirt so as to permit inward and outward angular adjustment of the arm when the bracket is in a selected position on the slide body, the mounting surface on the bracket being tapped for a clamping screw in a central position, the skirt having a plurality of horizontal extending screw clearance slots centered with respect to the scallops thereon for selective reception of the clamping screw for clamping the bracket onto the face of the skirt in a selected direction, position and angle, the base portion and supporting arm being formed integrally of plastic and symmetrically relieved on both sides so that the arm is of H cross section having spaced parallel uprights which support between them a horizontal web having holes spaced therealong for supporting the rear leg of a drapery hook in both directions of extension of the arm. 